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Who on earth is Rei Kawakubo

Every other website on my feed last week was talking about her

Till last Tuesday I had no idea who Rei Kawakubo was. Since then I have done some keyboard clacking (that we'll call research) so that in future, if someone mentions this Rei Kawakubo person place or thing, I can forgo the ignorant 'hain?' and act all blasé and Oh yeah, of course.
My research has revealed this: Rei Kawakubo is a big shot 'avant garde' Japanese designer with a fashion label that uses one of those funky accents under the c - 'cedilla' - as in, façade, which makes it immediately appealing to the pretentious side of my brain. Label's called Comme des Garçons. Note: since I don't use words like avant garde and cedilla in normal conversation, they'll have to stay in quotes.
Every other website on my feed last week was talking about her and her label CdG. As a quick fix to no real problem, I immediately followed the brand on Twitter.
Who cares, you say? Wait for it. You see, the previous fortnight, my stylish colleague Sujata had spoken, not about Rei Kawakubo, but about the first Monday of May in the context of a story she was doing on fashion. I didn't know what she was on about or what the big deal was about the first Monday of May. Surely the other 11 calendar pages have first Mondays too, no? Basically the first Monday of May - and Khaleej Times carried that story - is a big party night at the Met in New York, an evening to suss out big names and big trends in design and fashion.
Usually my interest in the Met Gala is limited to photos and stories Brandon Stanton does for his cyber baby, the page called Humans of New York, which I follow. He talks to Bryan Cranston and other generally cool people who are invited to these dos. I read and like them and that's it. I have nothing else at all to do with the Met Gala. (This year Stanton's post on Serena Williams in that nice green gown was good, also Stephen Colbert on the importance of silliness). We're digressing.
So, last Monday, the skies broke open and my social media stream was a downpour of bizarre outfits worn by celebrity women who are otherwise quite presentably dressed. Why were these women at the Met Gala in New York parading in such burlesque costumes? I mean, come on, that is NOT a dress. I spent some time flipping through those outfits. I don't even cover fashion. Why should we, sitting here, care a hoot? No reason, we probably shouldn't. But I couldn't stop watching all these strange, misshapen, almost all unflattering costumes. I, of course, have an untrained eye. But these weren't normal clothes, surely, come on, come on! My initial confounded disbelief grew to a grudging admiration and I was thinking things like, so ... this woman basically designs whatever the heck she wants, and people buy it? And wear it? And it's a successful brand? And the Met Gala, on this famous first Monday of May, celebrates the brand? Wow now, humble cow. There was something to be learnt here. Like Matthew Schneier wrote in a piece in NYT on the designer, "Many designers work with the goal of making women look good.
Ms Kawakubo seems to work with the goal of making women look again." Hmmm. Last week, there was this other lovely piece Paromita Vohra wrote for The Ladies Finger, on the clothes she wears to office (Read here: tinyurl.com/jw8q28x). My favourite phrase there was 'dodgy darzee' - most evocative! Vohra (like Kawakubo?) seems to be having a blast with her saris and hand-made earrings and other sartorial bursts of joy. And for the life of me, I can't decide who to be inspired by more. From both I took home the message to toss out all the boring stuff from the wardrobe. Be wild, who's looking. And if they are, even better. There's your moment in the sun as a Rei gem. 
nivriti@khaleejtimes.com